Phosphorus inputs to the landscape from fertilizer and manure inputs, P surplus and P removal by crop harvest and hydrologic export. The input layers are now available on EPA's EnviroAtlas under Pollutants: Nutrients and specifically the layers include 1) Phosphorus application as manure and 2) Phosphorus fertilizer application. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Metson, G., J. Lin, J.A. Harrison, and J. Compton. Linking terrestrial phosphorus inputs to riverine export across the United States. WATER RESEARCH. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, USA, 124: 177-191, (2017).

This product consists of two tabular datasets and associated metadata for major phosphorus fluxes including manure and fertilizer inputs, crop uptake, as well as waste water treatment facility effluent and river export. These are time series data representing water years 1992 to 2012 for watersheds associated with the National Water Quality Program Surface Water Trends project. Dataset 1: Major fluxes and estimated net P balances. Dataset 2: Results of a t-test to determine if site level mean agricultural P balances were significantly above, not different, or below zero. Each site was then assigned to an Accumulation, Equilibrium, or Depletion status categories, respectively. Identification of sites where river loads are impacted by legacy P. Estimated changes river export between 1992 - 2012.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing SPARROW models (SPAtially Related Regressions On Watershed Attributes) to assess the transport of contaminants (e.g., nutrients) through the Pacific drainages of the United States (the Columbia River basin; the coastal drainages of Washington, Oregon, and California; the Klamath River basin; the Central Valley of California, and the west slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains). SPARROW relates instream water quality measurements to spatially referenced characteristics of watersheds, including contaminant sources and the factors influencing terrestrial and aquatic transport. Livestock manure used as fertilizer on farmland is a potential source of nutrients delivered to streams. The spatial data set “Application of manure phosphorus generated by non-cattle livestock to farmland within the Pacific drainages of the United States (2012)” represents an estimate of the amount of manure phosphorus generated by non-cattle livestock (such as hogs, poultry, sheep, and horses) in 2012 that was applied to farmland within the counties in which those animals were located. This data set was created by estimating the manure phosphorus generated by non-cattle livestock in 2012 within each county and disaggregating that amount to the farmland within that county.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing SPARROW models (SPAtially Related Regressions On Watershed Attributes) to assess the transport of contaminants (e.g., nutrients) through the Pacific drainages of the United States (the Columbia River basin; the coastal drainages of Washington, Oregon, and California; the Klamath River basin; the Central Valley of California, and the west slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains). SPARROW relates instream water quality measurements to spatially referenced characteristics of watersheds, including contaminant sources and the factors influencing terrestrial and aquatic transport. Cattle manure applied to grazing land is a potential source of nutrients delivered to streams. The spatial data set “Application of manure phosphorus generated by grazing cattle to grazing land within the Pacific drainages of the United States (2012)” represents an estimate of the amount of manure phosphorus generated by grazing cattle in 2012 that was applied to grazing land within the counties in which those cattle were located. This data set was created by disaggregating the manure phosphorus generated by grazing cattle within each county to the potential grazing land within that county.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing SPARROW models (SPAtially Related Regressions On Watershed Attributes) to assess the transport of contaminants (e.g., nutrients) through the Pacific drainages of the United States (the Columbia River basin; the coastal drainages of Washington, Oregon, and California; the Klamath River basin; the Central Valley of California, and the west slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains). SPARROW relates instream water quality measurements to spatially referenced characteristics of watersheds, including contaminant sources and the factors influencing terrestrial and aquatic transport. Cattle manure applied to grazing land is a potential source of nutrients delivered to streams.The spatial data set “Application of manure phosphorus generated at cattle animal feeding operations to nearby farmland within the Pacific drainages of the United States (2012)” represents an estimate of the amount of cattle manure phosphorus generated at animal feeding operations (such as dairies and feedlots) in 2012 that was applied to nearby farmland around those facilities. This data set was created by estimating the total amount of manure phosphorus that was not exported to market in 2012 within each county and disaggregating that amount to the pasture and cultivated land around each AFO based on the number of cattle housed there in 2012.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is developing SPARROW models (SPAtially Related Regressions On Watershed Attributes) to assess the transport of contaminants (e.g., nutrients) through the Pacific drainages of the United States (the Columbia River basin; the coastal drainages of Washington, Oregon, and California; the Klamath River basin; the Central Valley of California, and the west slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains). SPARROW relates instream water quality measurements to spatially referenced characteristics of watersheds, including contaminant sources and the factors influencing terrestrial and aquatic transport. Cattle manure applied to grazing land is a potential source of nutrients delivered to streams. The spatial data set “Application of manure phosphorus generated by cattle housed in animal feeding operations to county-wide farmland within the Pacific drainages of the United States (2012)” represents an estimate of the amount of cattle manure phosphorus generated at animal feeding operations (such as dairies and feedlots) in 2012 that was applied to farmland within the counties in which those facilities were located. This data set was created by estimating the total amount of manure phosphorus that was exported to market in 2012 within each county and disaggregating that amount to the farmland within that county.

Animal agriculture manure is a primary source of nitrogen and phosphorus to surface and groundwater. Manure runoff from cropland and pastures or discharging animal feeding operations and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) often reaches surface and groundwater systems through surface runoff or infiltration. Permitting discharging CAFOs to limit nitrogen and phosphorus discharge to surface waters, and implementing best management practices outlined in a manure management plan are critical steps to protecting water quality. This indicator shows animal agriculture manure produced in states in 2007 and 2017 (the year of the last Census of Agriculture) and expressed in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus content, rather than total amounts of manure, since different animal types produce manure with differing nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. Data are for cattle, swine, poultry (chickens and turkeys), sheep, and horses. Data are presented as 1000s of kg of manure nitrogen and phosphorus as well as kilograms of manure nitrogen and phosphorus per km2 of farmland.

Estimated nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) produced from animal manure in 2007.

This dataset contains tables of estimated fertilizer and manure nutrient inputs in kilograms to individual stream catchments of the continental United States from the National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 2.1 (McKay and others, 2012). These data were downscaled from county-level estimates of nitrogen and phosphorus inputs from Falcone (2021) by allocating mass of applied nutrients to appropriate land-cover from the National Land Cover Dataset and summarizing by catchment. These data were compiled for the years 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017. This data release contains 8 comma separated variable tables that can be linked to the NHD Plus v2 dataset using the COMID unique identifier. Four of these tables contain information on total nitrogen and total phosphorus from fertilizer applications on agricultural and developed lands. The remaining 4 tables contain information on total nitrogen and total phosphorus from confined and unconfined animal manure sources.

This spatial data set was created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to represent the amount of fertilizer phosphorus that was applied to farm land in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States (Hydro Region 17; Major River Basin 7 (MRB7)) during 2002.